A School that Helps Children Escaping War in Syria

An initiative in Lebanon to educate Christian and Muslim refugees: These children belong to refugee families in Lebanon. Some of them arrived only a few weeks ago, while others who have managed to escape the war in Iraq and Syria have been here for two years. They are Christians and Muslims, and learn to hang out together in this special school.

Having lived through violence, persecution for religious reasons, and lack of electricity and food have left wounds that are difficult to heal.

Diana, AVSI Foundation: “Children in general are not easy to deal with. Especially children that are emotionally traumatized. They are special cases. You have to be very careful in how you speak to them. You have to give them a very safe environment. They want to feel loved, they want to feel protected, they want to feel safe. And I think that here, in our school, that is our most important goal: to make the children feel safe, before anything else.”

Some of the younger ones, like Mohamad who is almost a teenager, have experienced closed schools back in their countries for several years.

Diana, AVSI Foundation: “It’s difficult because, first of all they are learning things that they should have learned at a younger age and are now learning at an older age. That is the most difficult part. Second of all, discipline. They are not disciplined. They don’t know the rules of a classroom. So what we do is to introduce them to the rules in the beginning. We told them what you can do, what you can’t do, group study sessions, interactive learning… We try to make it as interesting as possible, so that they can be excited to learn.”

Fortunately, the fruits of education that the school passes along are appreciated during the first week of lessons.

Diana, AVSI Foundation: “I don’t want them to start learning, you know, all the letters and the numbers right away, but the simpler things, like asking for permission before speaking, for example, or writing in neat handwriting and not just scraping the paper. Those are huge improvements. They are huge. And, you know, from week to week I noticed a huge improvement in the kids”.

This initiative is one of the 20 schools that are being managed by the AVSI Foundation in Lebanon that follows the Social Doctrine of the Church.

Jihane Rahal, AVSI Foundation: “Even just playing together without hurting each other, without arguing and so on is something, it’s a wonderful achievement. Just being able to see them play, like now, during the recreational activity they have during rest, say, after one class and another. When they come here to play ball, they are together, they talk to each other. We try to pass on these simple values that will serve them for life.”

More than 10,000 children benefit from these educational centers, which open a door of hope for refugee children.

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#StandTogether is a digital platform, inclusive and ecumenical, created to give voice to Christians who are discriminated or persecuted, especially in the Middle East. It also intends to underline the vital importance of religious freedom.
This project is the result of the collaboration between institutions devoted to fostering a culture of dialogue and peace, by spreading the testimony of religious minorities, Christian and others, who live in dire circumstances.
We do not wish to create a new reality or replace the existing initiatives devoted to this issue. Rather, our goal is to offer a common area for media and institutions to share their projects and to increase their potential audience exponentially.
The guiding idea behind this project is that the range of our message increases if we work together. That is why the following institutions are collaborating in this project: Communion and Liberation, Amici Rome Reports, Fundación Promoción Social de la Cultura, and ISCOM, who were the initiators of the project.